Home2 Suites by Hilton is Hilton’s extended-stay brand that serves travelers looking for comfort, flexibility, and affordable lodging, often for more than seven days at a time. Launched in 2009 and one of the fastest growing brands in Hilton’s history, the brand is an upper midscale, all-suite extended stay hotel concept. Committed to environmentally friendly products and hotel operations, it offers stylish and customizable accommodations designed to make travelers and their pets feel at home.
In addition to offering pet-friendly rooms, in-suite kitchens, integrated fitness and laundry areas, and complimentary breakfast—the hospitality offered by the hotels’ team members is what really transforms the guests’ hotel stay into a “home-away-from-home” experience.
And sometimes, a home is what a guest desperately needs. Just ask the Ableman family, who has resided at Home2 Suites by Hilton Plano Richardson in Plano since the Great Texas Freeze in February 2021, a historic winter weather event that left 4.5 million Texas homes and businesses without power or heat.
Back in 2021, the Ablemans—like thousands of others in the Dallas area—lost power and found themselves racing to find shelter from the storm. They drove around searching hotel after hotel for a total of six hours until they stopped at Home2 Suites by Hilton Plano Richardson. While this Home2 Suites was already at 100% occupancy, General Manager Mike Testerman and his team refused to turn people away. Instead, they jumped into action, transforming their lobby into a temporary shelter by offering hotel pillows and blankets for anyone coming in to stay warm.
The Ablemans hunkered down and within a few hours, Testerman secured them rooms at the hotel.
Now, nearly two-and-a-half years later, the Ablemans are still Home2 Suites guests while they wait for their house to be rebuilt after sustaining flood damage during that storm. They appreciate how the Home2 Suites team extended not only help, but a community and home, truly becoming extended family for them. (See the full video of their experience above).
But guests in crisis aren’t the only clientele Home2 Suites serves. The hotel is committed to offering the same welcoming hospitality to each business traveler, vacationer—and four-legged guest—who enters their lobby.
Testerman, who personally shelters blind Great Danes in addition to owning three of his own, has made it a priority for the hotel’s team members to live out the brand’s commitment to welcoming pets by recognizing each and every one of the hotel’s four-legged guests at check-in, where names are learned, and even treats and belly rubs may be offered. To further serve pets and ensure they are comfortable, the hotel partnered with neighboring Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Dallas/Plano East to create a shared dog park on a patch of land that lies in between both hotels.
“They need a place where they can run safely and enjoy themselves, so having a dog park was one of the best investments I believe we could’ve done here at our Home2 Suites,” Testerman said. “We let [pets] know that they’re a part of our family.”